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Apple pie is a favorite
Jessica Webb
editor@thesmokymountaintimes.com
One moment I’m standing on the sidewalk on Everett Street in downtown Bryson City under a clear winter sky with just a hint of fresh fried food in the air and the next I’m transported to a summertime fair— thanks to a serious treat from Sandra D’s Fried Pies.
Like many of her customers, I’ve never had a real fried pie before today. So, I had to try one of each variety: classic apple from the fruit pies, veggie, egg & cheese from the brunch options, and I couldn’t resist K&B BBQ and gouda from the lunch pies!
Each handmade pie is fried to golden perfection—with crispy fried edges and soft, satisfying bites of flavorful filling.
Sandy King said both her grandmothers were bakers who were always making cakes for people. She’s carrying on that tradition, selling the fried pies Tuesdays and Thursdays from the Big Laurel Food Truck parked across the street from the Presbyterian Church downtown.
“I love to make people happy with food,” she said. She learned about fried pies from fairs.
“Nobody in my family made ‘em, I just picked it up and thought, ‘I could do this.’ I’ve been doing it for many years, and I’ve just been tweaking my recipes,” she said.
The fillings and the dough are all homemade.
“I’m a big homemade person I think if you put the time in you can taste the difference,” King said.
Fried pies, particularly apple, are a Southern Appalachian tradition. King enjoys introducing the treats to visitors in Bryson City. “I wanted them to experience some of our heritage and nostalgia,” she said.
“I use the old-timey recipe with dried apples to make mine, which makes it even more nostalgic. Some people my age and older remember their mothers making them and they will reminisce about them,” she said. “Tourists are kind of skeptical until they taste one, and it changes their mind, and they seem to enjoy it!”
With a try it and see approach, Sandy has found the business to be successful so far. Word has gotten around since she first started serving the pies out of the food truck a few months ago. With their popularity, King said she plans to have a brick and mortar by springtime. She currently shares the truck, now owned by her son, Ben King and business partner Brett Hackshaw.
A lot of research and creativity went into developing the recipes.
“I’m branching out, the possibilities are endless now,” she said on the variety of pies. “I do all the fruit pies the apple, triple berry, strawberry cream cheese. Ieach is a big favorite, too, and I do coconut. With the seasons, I try to change it up. In the fall, we did sweet potato pecan and closer to spring, we’ll have more spring flavors.”
The filling recipes were developed with a lot of “trial and error,” she said. “My husband was a big part of that because he’s my taste tester. I just worked until I got it to what I thought people would enjoy.”
To come up with her recipe for the crust, Sandy said she traveled to different places throughout north Georgia and western North Carolina that serve fried pies.
“I’d taste each one and compare what I liked and didn’t like, and I kept experimenting at home until I came up with a dough that intrigued me,” she said. “I didn’t want one what that was heavy with oil and a lot of them are.”
She’s looking forward to the business growing into a permanent location and said it will be a challenge. When she opens in a storefront, the menu will include more than just pies and a chance for her to continue to create.
As for her favorite pie?
“I guess apple would be my all-time favorite; I’m partial to apple,” she said. “The strawberry cream cheese has been a big one. Everybody’s got their own favorite.”